European Mobility Week has a record-breaking year

You are here

This year, EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK introduced an array of positive actions across the continent and beyond, demonstrating “clean, shared and intelligent mobility”. As it has in the past, the week inspired hundreds of cities, towns, schools and businesses to organise a week’s worth of activities - including free bike-sharing, car-free days, and free walking tours through cities, museums and the outdoors. Furthermore, a number of initiatives have been implemented permanently to promote a more sustainable transport culture that supports efficient travel modes over private car ownership.

For 2017, the final count for registered towns and cities to take part in EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK tops off at a record-breaking 2483 participants - with 642 registeredMOBILITYACTIONS from 50 countries.

Let’s take a look at some of the great initiatives we saw this year!

UITP Secretary General Alain Flausch at the launch of the week in Brussels

Schools and cities shaping a sustainable future

With one of the highest numbers of participating towns and cities, one of the initiatives to come out of Austria was the Image-Campaign, launched by Walk-space.at. The target of this campaign was to focus on better quality pedestrian paths and zones. Elements of a healthy, safe and quality pedestrian zone were printed on postcards to improve the image of walking.

In the Netherlands, where biking to school or work is already a popular phenomenon, The Hague hosted a bike-parade titled “Street for street to a better climate”. The parade called on city planners and decision-makers to abandon all existing and new projects that exacerbate the current climate crisis the world is facing.

Thorntree Primary School in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, organised “bike breakfasts” to encourage students and faculty to come to school via bike, foot, or any other sustainable methods. Co-organised by The Bike Station, a free safety check for your bike as well as a healthy breakfast was provided to those who joined the challenge.

Calling all winners to the stage!

Applications are being accepted until 23 October to be the winner of the 2017 EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award. An award will be presented in two categories: one for municipalities with a population of more than 50,000 and one for municipalities with a population fewer than 50,000.

To be eligible, cities or towns must meet three criteria: 1) hold a week of activities relating to sustainable urban mobility; 2) implement permanent measures contributing to people swapping cars for environmentally sound transport; and 3) holding a Car-Free Day.

About UITP

As a passionate champion of sustainable urban mobility, UITP is internationally recognised for its work to advance the development of this critical policy agenda. UITP has a long history to its name, and is the only worldwide network to bring together all public transport stakeholders and all sustainable transport modes.